My posts for the next week will be mostly about reproduction and women's issues since that is the unit we are in right now.
I think one reason we NEED women as doctors is because they care about women's issues! The following is a quote from a text book that is not too old regarding PMS:
Most women suffering from PMS are somehow "causing it" and successful treatment depends on a "responsive and cooperative patient who wants to get better."
Fortunately, the woman who gave the lecture said that this idea is being debunked, but doctors still don't know what the cause is behind PMS. I'll tell you why I think they don't know, yet: it is because an industry that was filled with almost all men was convinced that women were just psychos and no other research needed to be put it into it.
In conjunction with the weird ideas behind women's health, I feel the need to include a little a little history lesson. You have all heard the word "hysteria." Well, this word got its meaning from women who were "crazy," and this craziness was being attributed to their uterus. One of the cures for this craziness was supposedly giving them a hysterectomy...oh, whoops, she's still "crazy"!
I know, I need to give male doctors some slack. After all, heart disease and cholesterol had to be researched because they were killing people; however, in the end, research is always about money. We have pills for impotence and surgeries to change any part of our bodies that we don't particularly like, and I can see finding a cure to PMS being a big money maker, too!
The good news is, with medical students around the nation being 50% women, you can be sure that there will be some sort of etiology found for these issues rather than attributing it to a 2-day freak out session "just because women choose to be that way."
I think one reason we NEED women as doctors is because they care about women's issues! The following is a quote from a text book that is not too old regarding PMS:
Most women suffering from PMS are somehow "causing it" and successful treatment depends on a "responsive and cooperative patient who wants to get better."
Fortunately, the woman who gave the lecture said that this idea is being debunked, but doctors still don't know what the cause is behind PMS. I'll tell you why I think they don't know, yet: it is because an industry that was filled with almost all men was convinced that women were just psychos and no other research needed to be put it into it.
In conjunction with the weird ideas behind women's health, I feel the need to include a little a little history lesson. You have all heard the word "hysteria." Well, this word got its meaning from women who were "crazy," and this craziness was being attributed to their uterus. One of the cures for this craziness was supposedly giving them a hysterectomy...oh, whoops, she's still "crazy"!
I know, I need to give male doctors some slack. After all, heart disease and cholesterol had to be researched because they were killing people; however, in the end, research is always about money. We have pills for impotence and surgeries to change any part of our bodies that we don't particularly like, and I can see finding a cure to PMS being a big money maker, too!
The good news is, with medical students around the nation being 50% women, you can be sure that there will be some sort of etiology found for these issues rather than attributing it to a 2-day freak out session "just because women choose to be that way."
So today, I am grateful that women are in medical school...not just because I am a woman in medical school, but also because now some of these "mysteries" can hopefully be solved and the world will, literally, be a happier place.
1 comments:
I love the PMS cartoon. Seriously, hooray for female doctors.
Emily
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